Scientific Definition
Competent people become more likable after a small visible mistake.
Plain-English Definition
Competent people become more likable after a small visible mistake.
Feynman Explanation
Spilling coffee on stage is a trust-building move — if you were good first.
Core Principle
Competent people become more likable after a small visible mistake.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Competent people become more likable after a small visible mistake.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Calculated vulnerability outperforms false perfection.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Spilling coffee on stage is a trust-building move — if you were good first.
Examples
- Leaders who admit a small error gain credibility for the larger claim.
- Calculated vulnerability outperforms false perfection.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Earn the competence first. Then let people see you're human.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Earn the competence first. Then let people see you're human.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
We accept vague, general statements as personally meaningful.
We come to like people we've done a favor for, more than people who've helped us.
Subconscious preference for numbers (and letters) that appear in our own name or birthday.
A persuasive message produces the opposite of its intended effect.
The threat of retaliation suppresses legitimate speech or action.
Higher rates of mistreatment toward stepchildren than biological children.
Renewed interest in a stimulus when a novel stimulus is introduced.
We recognize faces from our own race more accurately than others.
Underestimating how common our positive traits and behaviors are.
We accept vague, positive personality descriptions as highly accurate.
People change behavior when they know they are being observed.
A group decides on a course of action that nobody actually wants, because everyone assumes others prefer it.